Psychology Today article
Lawrence R. Samuel Ph.D.
Conscious aging not only acknowledges that we get older but celebrates it.
Posted May 14, 2019
You may not have noticed, but a backlash against the negative ways in which aging is perceived in America is in the works. More and more baby boomers are embracing the idea of “conscious aging,” a reaction against the silliness and futility of anti-aging. For the last century or so, we have been a youth-obsessed society in which we have done everything we can to deny the reality of aging (and dying, for that matter). Rather than try to overlook the simple truth that people get older, conscious aging not only acknowledges that fact but celebrates it, turning the whole idea on its head. Conscious aging is not only a positive thing for individuals to do but a means of creating a healthier, less ageist society. By “aging consciously, we will naturally begin to manifest those qualities that our society needs in order to survive,” the spiritual guide Ram Dass wrote in his Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying (a reference to his earlier classic Be Here Now), those qualities being “sustainability, justice, patience and reflection.”
The Conscious Aging Alliance (CAA), a network of several organizations committed to an empowering vision of later life, offers the definitive explanation of the concept: “Conscious aging is a perspective that sees aging as a life stage full of potential for purpose, growth, and service to community, and as a path toward realizing that potential. Our beliefs, about what is possible for us, and the intentions that spring from them, hold great power in shaping who we become. A great many baby boomers, as well as those further along in years, are hearing an inner call to age consciously, and are seeking support in responding to that call.”
As the CAA correctly explains it, conscious aging is steeped in the truism that over the course of thousands of years, many civilizations venerated those who had lived the longest, a practice that was viewed as important to the health of the whole society. Older people were termed “elders”- individuals assigned the key task of serving as mentors to younger people. Elders also were responsible for reciting the narratives that related the story and central beliefs of the society in order to ensure the wellbeing of future generations. Elders were seen as having evolved into a position of individual completeness so that they could act as role models for their community. Despite widespread ageism, the CAA continues, there is nonetheless a primal human drive to permit the “inner elder” to surface. Encouraging this to happen is the essential mission of conscious aging. “This is the work that can lead to wholeness and fulfillment as we age, in whatever circumstances life presents us,” the CAA concludes, a worthwhile effort.
Another organization actively promoting the cause of conscious aging is the Institute of Noetic Sciences (INS). Established by astronaut Edgar Mitchell (after having what he described as a “peak experience” while in space on the Apollo 14 mission), the INS is a “nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting individual and collective transformation through consciousness research, transformative learning, and engaging a global community in the realization of our human potential.” (“Noetic” is Greek for “inner or intuitive knowing.”) The goal of the INS is nothing less than to “create a shift in consciousness worldwide- where people recognize that we are all part of an interconnected whole and are inspired to take action to help humanity and the planet thrive.” Part of the INS’s charter is to train facilitators to lead Conscious Aging Workshops as a means of fostering spiritual, emotional, and psychological growth among those in their third phase of life. To that point, the INS has recognized nine actions to help older individuals fully embrace being alive:
- “Reflect on your worldview, beliefs, stereotypes, and assumptions, and ask how might they be limiting you or holding you back
- Reframe your inner talk by making internal, critical messages more positive and self-compassionate
- Shift your perspective away from the popular media that shape the dominant view of aging and find opportunities to find joy and goodness
- Practice mindful attention by bringing your attention toward greater self-awareness
- Set intentions by asking yourself, ‘What matters most? and ‘What values do I want to adhere to?’
- Build new habits by challenging your brain with new learnings, exploring new activities, or doing something new every day
- Find guidance by connecting with others offering a way of living into new patterns and behaviors
- Move from I to We in order to add joy and purpose to your actions
- Recognize that death makes life possible.”
With getting older as natural and universal experience as can be, conscious aging is destined to gain cultural currency in the years ahead as America and the rest of the world become appreciably grayer.
